I was thinking about the animation pipeline for my daughter. What schools or programs have strong programs in either/and lighting, shading or especially scripting?

MrPositive

03 March 2009, 03:52 AM

Realism or stylism/cartoony ala Pixar? Hundreds of programs focus on realism and have extremely strong programs. The next question along those lines is how much you'd be willing to spend, as they range in price greatly, and whether the individual just wants training or a degree. Honestly, the best realism for lighting and shading that I've seen through reels is Vancouver, but of course they are also extremely expensive, as one of our instructors will be paying off their debts for well, ever (same with SCAD for that matter). I have the midwest of our schools list taken care of, and should at least allow you to quickly peruse schools, their galleries, and general focus. Should be up by the weekend some time.

taxguy

03 March 2009, 05:43 AM

Thanks for your response, Mr. Positive. I don't think my daughter will care about a degree per se since she will be graduating from Univeristy of Cincinnati in Digital Arts, Cum Laude and with Honors.

MrPositive

03 March 2009, 06:13 PM

Sounds fantastic. I'd look at this new thread that somebody just put up. :)
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=289&t=747122

taxguy

03 March 2009, 07:08 PM

Thank you for your posting of online courses. However, I was wondering about the efficacy of the online courses. I do know that they can help considerably in teaching certain technical skills such as Flash etc. since my daughter has used them to her benefit. BUT how well do they work to teach and improve drawing skills especially in live drawing and figure anatomy drawing?

MrPositive

03 March 2009, 07:54 PM

I only listed CG online courses and training. Honestly, having actual models right there to study, see from separate angles, and a professional mentor to ask specific questions, etc. would seem pretty helpful in my opinion. Saying that, there are some decent online drawing courses I believe (not sure where the links are anymore). And I posted this yesterday, which is all free, and I've seen some phenomenal results. :)
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=5772228&postcount=3
Rebecca might have more details about online 2D courses and training, which we could add to the list as well presumably.

Rebeccak

03 March 2009, 09:09 PM

Thank you for your posting of online courses. However, I was wondering about the efficacy of the online courses. I do know that they can help considerably in teaching certain technical skills such as Flash etc. since my daughter has used them to her benefit. BUT how well do they work to teach and improve drawing skills especially in live drawing and figure anatomy drawing?In my experience, online classes for traditional drawing are pretty tough - easier for digital drawing and painting, but since traditional principles undergirds it all, it's best in my opinion to do live courses in life drawing. Really nothing, as Mr. Positive mentioned, beats being in front of a live model with a knowledgeable instructor present to give guidance to students.

Where do you live? Most states have community colleges. I suggest reading through this thread (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=283&t=746153) where a lot of that information has been discussed just recently.

For sure your daughter is welcome to participate in online communities. For traditional and digital artwork, your daughter is welcome to start a thread here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=200). I also highly recommend that she check out conceptart.org, which is really geared more toward traditional art and is a huge resource. I would however caution that while forums can help to provide motivation, particularly for those living in an art resource vacuum, they aren't really a full substitute for taking a live class where the instructor can demo and give live feedback to students. If you at all have access to community college art classes or other art classes, I would highly recommend taking advantage of that, and using forums as a supplemental source of information and feedback.

A great resource that I recommend to all of my students for reference purposes is characterdesigns.com - go to the photosets section, there are multiple photosets of artistic nude photographs that can be used as reference to draw from. However, the number one thing that art colleges look for in portfolios is life drawing, and trust me they can tell if drawings are not from *life*. There is a big difference.

For 2D related online resources, feel free to check out this thread (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=177&t=357772).

Edit - do you live in Rockville, Maryland? I'm originally from that area. Montgomery College has a pretty good reputation in terms of art from what I recall (I sat in on a few figure drawing sessions there in hs).

Edit 2 - after that, I realized that your daughter is already in college. :D Ohio, weirdly enough, has a great reputation for its art schools, I think it's because there's nothing else to do there. :) Actually both of my parents attended Univ. of Cincinnati for grad school. The Cleveland Institute of Art is pretty renowned there, but quite honestly if your daughter is interested in animation / effects then she should consider moving to California. I also think your daughter should consider joining CGTalk and other sites herself since online networking is such an important tool these days, almost something you can't do without.

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03 March 2009, 09:09 PM

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